09/23/2025
🍂🏈⚽ Fall Sports Are in Full Swing! ⚾🏐🍂
With the excitement of the season also comes pressure—pressure to perform, pressure to win, pressure to not “mess up.”
But when athletes focus too much on fear of failure, they get stuck in a tough cycle:
➡️ Fear → Worry → Anxiety → Muscle Tension → Underperformance → More Fear.
The good news? The cycle can be broken.
Parents, coaches, and athletes can work together to:
Helping Athletes Break the Fear–Performance Cycle
1. Normalize fear – Let athletes know fear of failure is common.
2. Watch for worry spirals – Redirect “what if” thinking to “what now.” What can I do in this moment?
3. Calm the body – Breathing and relaxation help reset the nervous system.
4. Loosen up – Remind them to stay relaxed so their skills can flow naturally.
5. Focus on process, not outcome – Confidence grows when attention is on controllable actions.
6. Reinforce effort, not results – Praise courage, focus, and resilience instead of just performance.
Here’s to a season of growth, resilience, and joy in the game!